


Of Fairies and Fondness

by SpyroForLife



Series: ZaDR Week 3 [3]
Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, Angst, Arguing, Bonding, Camping, Complicated Relationships, Cryptozoology, Cuddling & Snuggling, Death Threats, Dirty Talk, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fade to Black, Fae & Fairies, Hiking, Holding Hands, Hopeful Ending, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Medical Care, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Injuries, Nature Magic, Pining, Skinny Dipping, Swimming, Talking, Threats of Violence, difficult conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpyroForLife/pseuds/SpyroForLife
Summary: Zim decides to accompany Dib on a cryptid hunting excursion in the woods. Their target? Fairies! And perhaps during their search for the winged critters, they'll discover a whole lot more.
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Series: ZaDR Week 3 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838137
Comments: 12
Kudos: 75





	1. The First Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This multi-chapter fic continues on from Dressing Up! It is in response to the third ZaDR Week 3 prompt, that being Cryptids! I once again got carried away but I hope you enjoy! This is rated Mature for some brief sexual language, suggestive themes, and fading to black on a sex scene, but it is not Explicit.

“Zim will accompany you on your stupid forest excursion!”

“Huh?” Dib closed his locker and turned to see Zim standing right there, arms crossed as he tapped his foot.

“When do you leave?” Zim questioned.

“Oh. Uh, you wanna go cryptid hunting with me?” Dib asked.

“Did I not just say that? Yes, I am interested to see if there truly are more beasts lurking on this planet than I was aware of. So when are you leaving?”

“I was going to drop my school stuff off at home and then head right out to the woods,” Dib replied.

“Excellent. I will return to my base and gather some necessities and you shall pick me up!” Zim spun on a heel and walked off.

“Hey, make sure you bring bug spray, the mosquitoes are crazy this time of year!” he shouted after him. Zim waved nonchalantly and kept going.

Dib pulled his backpack on and headed outside. His relationship with Zim felt so different these days. He hasn't seen him make any attempts to conquer Earth since before he had gone into heat, and although that season was apparently over for him now, Zim still hasn't returned to his scheming. Though he still bragged to Dib about the different things Earth could be good for once it was part of the Irken Empire.

Ever since the trip to the mall, Dib has avoided getting into difficult conversations about Zim's mission here. He was just tired of trying to argue with him about it. He'll either accept it on his own or just keep denying it but Dib had accepted that he wouldn't be able to sway him either way.

And he told himself to not get into it with him while camping either. They would be deep in the woods and far from anyone who'll be able to help him if Zim mauls him. But as long as Dib talked about anything else, they would be fine. He hoped.

He went home and got what he needed for his trip. His car was already loaded with a tent, two sleeping bags, and everything he would need for building a fire. He opened the drawer in his nightstand and took out his handgun, briefly checking that the safety was on and then looking in the chamber for any bullets, then nodded and slipped it into its holster, putting it into a backpack along with a small box of bullets. He hoped he wouldn't need to use it but with the number of bears, wolves, and possibly even mountain lions, to say nothing of the paranormal threats, it was always good to have. He would also be bringing along a knife, rope, and a first aid kit. Never hurt to be too prepared.

Once he had those packed, he stuffed some MREs and various snack food into the bag, along with two travel mugs that they could use to bring water while hiking. He put the backpack on and went down to the kitchen, tossing down a cooler next to the fridge and filling it without about a dozen bottles of water along with various juices for Zim. Once the drinks were in, he poured in ice from the freezer and shut the lid.

“Alright, let's see,” he said to himself. “Already got the tent and stuff in the car, and a couple foldout chairs... I packed clothes, the MREs will last the weekend but I have snacks, I got weapons for self defense, got my first aid kit... what else.”

“Camera?” Gaz suddenly said behind him, making him jump.

“Gaz, what have I said about sneaking-”

“Camera, laptop, sketchbook, notebook, pencils AND a good sharpener,” she rattled off as she opened the fridge and began rummaging through one of the drawers. “And you're going into the woods so make sure you got bug spray, of course. But try not to spray Zim with it. Might kill him. Or do, that way you don't have to fight him anymore.” She stepped back from the fridge, a block of cheese in hand. “Oh yeah, and a flashlight and batteries.”

“My phone has a light,” Dib said.

Gaz took the cheese over to the counter and started slicing it. “And what happens when the phone dies?”

“I recharge it?”

“What are you going to recharge it with? I know you ain't staying at an actual campsite or anything. You never do on these trips.”

“I filled up a bunch of those recharge packs,” Dib said confidently. “If my phone gets low I'll just plug it up to one of those. But yes, I have a flashlight just in case. And that other stuff is in the usual briefcase, already in the car.”

“Well good. Try not to die out there.”

“I'm just looking for fairies, shouldn't be that dangerous.”

“You say that but if you get beat up by fairies I'm gonna laugh at you.”

Dib gathered a bunch of paper towels and slipped them into this bag. Meanwhile, Gaz finished cutting off several slices of cheese and put what remained of the block back in the fridge, carrying her plate over to a cabinet to get crackers.

“I'm not gonna get beat up by fairies,” Dib said, after looking around the kitchen to make sure there wasn't anything else he needed to bring.

“Is Zim going? You asked him, right?”

“Yeah, he said just before I left school today that he'll come, actually.”

“Oh boy, two of you out there alone in the woods together... one of you is gonna kill the other, I know it.”

“Nah.” Dib found himself thinking about what else he and Zim could do together out in the woods with no one around them. He blushed lightly. Even though Zim has said he was no longer in heat, he had grown fond of sleeping with Dib and still often invited him over to mess around. Dib had figured with heat over Zim would be less needy but no, if anything he was even more demanding and flirty because he knew Dib responded to it. Zim loved having Dib's attention on him and sometimes even rewarded Dib with praise that got him so hot it was almost embarrassing, but luckily Zim has already helped him because confident in his sexuality.

But as good as the sex was, he wished it could be more to Zim than just a physical pleasure.

He sighed and grabbed the cooler, heading out. “See ya later.”

“See ya, have fun.” Gaz watched him go, tilting her head as she munched on her cheese and crackers. “Maybe I shoulda told him to pack condoms too.”

Dib loaded his backpack and cooler into the backseat and stood next to his car for a bit as he ran through his mental checklist again for anything he might have forgotten. Did he have his toiletries? He didn't need another situation where he found himself with an upset stomach and no toilet paper...

He checked the backpack's smaller pocket. Yep, he had toilet paper, along with wet wipes, his hairbrush, toothbrush, and toothpaste. He should be good, then.

He zipped it back up and got in the car, driving over to Zim's base. He wondered if he should have texted him first to ask if he was ready, but upon reaching the base, he saw Zim leaning against the fence outside with his arms crossed, looking impatient.

Dib stopped and leaned over to toss the door open for him.

“About time you got here,” Zim said, walking over and getting in.

Dib didn't see any supplies on him. “Forgetting something?”

“Nope.” Zim closed the door.

“You're not bringing anything? We're gonna be out there until Sunday probably.”

“You're bringing food, yes?”

“Well yeah but I'm not sure you'll like all of it.”

“In that case I do have some snacks in my PAK but I think I'll be fine for a couple days. Irken soldiers are conditioned to go for many days without food if necessary and we don't need to eat near as often as humans anyway.”

“Okay, well, you're welcome to any of my food or drinks while we're out there. But you don't want to bring anything else? Weapons?”

“I am a weapon.”

Dib couldn't argue with that. “Okay, uh... a blanket? Change of clothes? A damn toothbrush? Something to entertain yourself with if you get bored?”

“I don't need a blanket, my uniform will last me the weekend, I have cleaning supplies in my PAK, and something to entertain myself with? Don't worry.” Zim's voice dropped to a purr. “I have some _one_ I can spend hours entertaining myself with.”

Dib blushed and put the car into drive. “Well okay then. If you really don't need to bring anything else, let's go.” He headed onto the highway.

They spent the drive chatting about where in the woods they would be setting up camp and Dib's plan for finding the fairies. They were likely well hidden but there were signs one could look for that would give them away.

“I see. And what defenses will these fairies have?” Zim asked.

“Well they're usually pretty laidback as long as you don't insult them, but if you do make them mad, they have a wide variety of magical spells they can use to drive away intruders. They can befuddle you into hurting yourself or getting terribly lost, they can turn the wildlife against you, or strangle you with thorny vines... also I hear they have razor sharp teeth and claws they can tear at you with too. So you know. Try not to offend them.”

“These creatures are how big, again?”

“Not big at all. I mean, I'm not sure how accurate the stories are to actual fairies, but they're pretty small. Not even a foot tall. Probably half of that.”

Zim burst into laughter. “You mean to tell me these magical creatures the size of a newborn smeet are a threat? Hah! I doubt that.”

“I know you guys have a frustrating tendency to associate height with worth but trust me, fairies may be small but they're serious business. They will hurt you if you make one wrong move.”

“Haha, okay.” Zim chuckled and gazed out the window.

Dib really hoped that if they did find any fairies that Zim would be respectful. And maybe this would also be the day Zim finally accepted the truth about his mission.

The drive took about an hour and Zim spent a good portion of it fiddling with Dib's radio complaining about how horrible most of the music was, until Dib got fed up and just turned on Pandora. His chillstep station played and Zim paused as he listened to the opening notes, then he hummed and slipped his wig off. His antennae rose and then tilted forward toward one of the car's speakers, vibrating lightly.

Dib chuckled. He only ever saw Zim do that when he was listening to something he really liked.

“That's much better than that drivel on the radio,” Zim commented.

“Yeah, this station's got some good music.”

They finally arrived at the forest they would be exploring. Dib parked at a trail head and checked the sign before turning off the car. “Here we are.”

“Here?” Zim glanced around. There weren't any other cars in the parking lot. “The sign up there says there's no camping allowed. It appears this place is for hiking only.”

“Yeah which means when we go off the trail, no one will bother us. This is just an easy place for me to park, but we have hours of walking to get to where I want to go.”

“Ohh of course.” Zim got out.

“Hope you don't mind walking.”

“Please, back in training they would make us ruck for days! Not hours, but days! Out in the heat, the cold, the rain, whatever they felt like subjecting us to! I can handle a few hours of walking in this mild Earth weather.”

“Alright you don't have to jerk yourself off so hard.” Dib went around to the backseat to grab his stuff.

Zim snorted. “You humans have stupid expressions.”

Dib put on his backpack and took out the cooler and his briefcase. “Can you just grab that other bag for me?”

“I suppose.” Zim opened the door and retrieved the large bag that contained the tent and sleeping bags, pulling it onto his back.

“There's also a couple long bags that have foldout chairs in them, grab those too.”

“I'm no pack mule.”

“You said you wanted to come so you need to help out with some of the work. Just grab the chairs.”

“Ugh.” Zim complained but he picked up the chairs. “Anything else?”

“Nah, I think that covers it. Let's go.” Dib waited for Zim to shut the door and locked the car, then headed toward one of the trails. He stopped to examine the large bulletin board that had information about the area along with a map of the trails. He tucked his briefcase under an arm so he could free a hand to point at the map. “Okay, see this river over here to the west of this trail?”

“Yes,” Zim replied, taking his contacts off and pocketing them. His antennae gave a few flicks; checking the area for suspicious scents and sounds, Dib knew.

“We're going to follow this trail, the blue trail, all the way up to where it passes the river. The trail then turns away from it and loops all the way back here. People used to come here more often to visit the river but the trees and stuff have grown up a lot over the years and made it hard to get to, and this whole area's a nature reserve so the park staff don't want to cut any of it back. So this trail's not as popular though it's still nice if you just like walking through the woods and getting exercise. So, we're going to get to the river and then go off the trail and follow it north upstream. Way past where this map shows.” Dib took the briefcase back out from under his arm. “Eventually there's a waterfall. Supposedly, the fairies live near that waterfall.”

“I see. Let's not waste our time then.” Zim headed for the trail and Dib stayed right at his side.

“It'll probably be dark by the time we're near the waterfall so we'll need to just immediately set up camp and get some sleep. We can start looking for the fairies after sunrise.”

“I won't need sleep.”

“No?” Dib leaned over and gazed into Zim's eyes, making the other pause and stare, face growing purple. “Don't worry. I'll make sure I tire you out once we make camp.”

Zim's blush deepened and he kept walking, shouldering Dib aside. “Don't make promises your dick can't keep.”

“Wow. Bold words from the guy who regularly passes out on my chest when we get done having sex.”

Zim scoffed and aimed a kick at a nearby rock, sending it flying. It bounced off a tree somewhere in the distance. “Whatever.”

“Oh wow, almost expected you to call me a liar. Good to see you're being more honest with yourself.” Dib gave him a playful bump with his hip. Zim looked away but Dib caught him smiling, and he pushed back against him.

The mood was light as they walked. Zim occasionally would ask about various bugs or birds they happened to see and Dib explained what he knew about the local wildlife. There were also plenty of pretty wildflowers growing in the area, which Zim also admired.

“Did you know that nectar was once a main staple of the irken diet?” Zim commented at one point after seeing a bee flit between a few flowers.

“Really?” Dib asked, immediately interested as he always was when Zim told him new things about his species.

“Indeed! You're familiar with the importance of sugar in the irken diet, right? Well, sugarcane was just one source of that sweetness we craved. We also would drink nectar from certain flowers that grew in abundance on Irk. Those flowers only exist in closely monitored greenhouses now, but in the old days, they were everywhere. There were many different kinds and they all had slightly different flavors. The flowers were large and beautiful. We determined that we evolved our sharp color vision just to help us distinguish between the different flowers, as many were benign but a few were actually poisonous to us. But yep.” Zim nodded as he thought back to the books he had read on the subject. He's never actually seen one of the flowers in person but he has had snacks with honey made from the nectar and they were among his favorites. “And we evolved our long tongues to reach where the nectar was stored deep inside the flowers.”

“Man. How many flowers would it take to feed a full grown irken though?”

“Eh, depends.” Zim shrugged. “Not many though. You don't understand just how large these flowers can grow.” He gestured, raising his hand up over his own head. “Petals wider than you can spread your arms. So big even you could probably use one as a bed.”

“Those are some big flowers.”

“Mhm. Like nothing on Earth. Though I'll admit, Earth has beautiful flowers too. I've tasted them though, they aren't very good.”

It was rare to hear Zim compliment anything about Earth. Dib decided not to directly address it. “Have you tried honeysuckle? That might taste better to you.”

“I haven't seen one of those. I'll have to find one.”

They ended up spending a good portion of the walk talking about what irkens were like long ago. As much as Zim mocked the primitive practices of his ancestors, Dib could tell he had a lot of pride for his people nonetheless. It was fascinating learning about how much things have changed for irkens, yet in a way, much was still the same. They've always naturally looked up to the taller members of their species, as height allowed an individual to see further and alert the others to any threats, and height gave one an advantage in battle. Over time, height simply became associated with superiority and this was incorporated into society itself. Irkens would fight for territory and resources but were loyal and protective toward those within their own clans. Now that they considered their entire species to be one clan, their old instincts drove them to conquer entire worlds to spread their territory instead.

Dib in turn told Zim what he knew of human history and though Zim has studied some of it himself already, he was still interested to hear things from Dib's perspective.

It passed the time quickly and they had reached the river before they knew it. They could see where at one point there was an easy path over to the water, but now weeds and vines posed a serious tripping hazard and there were tree branches in the way. They left the trail and pushed through the branches toward the river, carefully stepping over the vines and the roots until it cleared out again closer to the water. The grass made way for slippery dirt and stones under them and Dib took a moment to admire the river. “Wow. This water is so clear.”

“Indeed. Well this is a nice spot!” Zim checked out the river too, watching fish flit below the surface. They stood there for a bit listening to the gentle rush of the water and the chirping of birds. Then Dib began heading upstream and Zim followed behind him.

It was more difficult walking here as there wasn't a cleared path, but they just stayed close to the water where it was mostly gravel and rocks and their trip went relatively smoothly. Just as Dib predicted, the Sun was setting by the time they could hear the distant rush of a waterfall, and it was almost too dark to see where they were going when they actually reached it.

Dib took out his phone and shone its light. A huge cliff face rose up in front of them, the river crashing down from it. He wasn't sure if the fairies were up at the top of that cliff or down here near the bottom, but they wouldn't be able to look now. He turned the light around to Zim, who squinted. “Well, let's find somewhere to set up.”

They unpacked the tent and found an open spot for it, though Zim still had to make use of his PAK legs to clear away a good number of bushes. The trees grew thick out here too, so their tent wound up carefully wedged into a space between a few of the trunks.

“If we build a fire tomorrow it'll probably need to be closer to the water just so we'll have space for it,” Dib mused as he stamped down one of the spikes that held the tent up.

“Probably.” Zim drove the spike on his side in with one well placed stomp. Then he went to the back and swiftly dealt with those spikes too before Dib was even done with the first.

Dib backed up to look the tent over, making sure it was standing up straight and looked secure, then nodded. “Alright, that should do it. We can just leave these chairs out here, but the rest of our stuff needs to go in here.” He went inside, getting down on his knees as there wasn't enough room for him to stand up straight. He laid out the two sleeping bags and then set his backpack, briefcase, and cooler off in a corner. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler and sighed as he sank onto one of the sleeping bags.

Zim followed him in, looking around with mild disdain. “Small, and rather primitive, but an adequate shelter.”

“Yep. You want a drink?”

“Yeah, I'll take one.”

Dib gestured to the cooler and Zim went to rummage through it before perking and taking out a bottle of grape juice. He closed the cooler and went to sit on the other sleeping bag, taking several long gulps of the juice.

Dib yawned, pretty sleepy from the hike, and laid back. He casually checked his phone out of habit and saw that it had no signal. He should have expected that. He tossed it down next to him and turned to lay on his side, looking at Zim.

Zim finished off the juice and capped it. “You probably didn't bring a trash can, huh?”

“No. But I brought a trash bag, we'll just have to throw our stuff away back at the trailhead once we're done.” Dib went to get the bag, bringing it over and laying it between them. Zim threw his own bottle in and stretched out on the sleeping bag, getting comfortable but not really looking tired.

Once Dib was done with his water and had thrown it away, he moved the bag out of the way and laid back down. Then Zim crossed the small distance between them to lay in his arms, moving his antennae forward to drift against Dib's face and up into his hair.

“You coming over here to cuddle or is there something else you want?” Dib teased as he felt Zim's hands roam down to his waist.

“Take a wild guess,” Zim replied, nipping under his chin and firmly pulling their hips together.

“I spoil you, you know that right?” Dib asked, taking his glasses off and putting them aside so they wouldn't get in the way.

“It's only what your merciful future overlord deserves. Now why don't you help me get to sleep like you promised you would?”

Dib smirked and rolled them over to pin Zim under him, leaning in to kiss him. “Whatever you say, 'overlord.'”


	2. The Next Morning

The pleasant chirping of birds, buzzing of insects, and roar of the waterfall all greeted Dib when he woke up the next morning. He yawned and sleepily rubbed at his eyes, looking up at the top of the tent, and then over at Zim, who was quite cozy against his side and seemed to still be asleep. He admired the other for a few moments, surprised that he wasn't awake yet. Maybe Dib really did wear him out last night, but he didn't really have a choice with how he had challenged him.

He would have happily kept laying there with him until he woke up but then he realized he needed to pee. Badly. He struggled away from Zim's arms and put on his glasses, then began hunting for his clothes in the dark.

“Ngh, where you going,” Zim groaned, lifting his head.

“Gotta take a piss, where are my clothes... are you laying on my shirt?”

“Why are you even bothering, we're in the middle of nowhere,” Zim said, pushing himself up on an arm.

Dib paused. “Oh. Oh yeah, true.” He decided to just put his coat on for a little bit of warmth and then unzipped the tent, going outside. Dawn was breaking and he admired the colors filling the sky for a few moments before walking further from the tent and getting to his business.

Zim, meanwhile, tiredly crawled over to the backpack and searched through it to check out the food he had chosen. He pulled out one of the MREs, chuckling at how similar they were to the ones he had to survive on multiple times during his military training. He wondered if they tasted just as bad. The one in his hand was apparently beef stew. He made a face. Meat was bad enough as it was but how good could this meat be, sitting around inside a package, not even refrigerated? Maybe there were also just a lot of preservatives in there. Gross. He dropped the MRE back in and checked out the snacks. There were several he liked, but he had his own, so he decided to leave them alone.

He was digging into a bag of chips from Irk when Dib came back inside, leaving the front of the tent open to let light in so he could find his boxers and pull them on. He didn't get dressed any further though, instead smiling at Zim and holding out his hand. “Come here. I want to show you something.”

“Did you find the fairies already?”

“Nah but this is pretty cool.”

Zim took the offered hand and got up, following Dib outside. He looked over at the waterfall first, appreciating it more fully now that he could see it better, but then Dib pointed up.

“Check out that sunrise.”

“You've seen one sunrise on an alien world, you've seen them all,” Zim muttered, but he looked up anyway. He found himself staring at the sky with wonder as vibrant oranges and pinks stretched across it, which slowly shifted into a bright, clear blue as the Sun rose higher. It was a cloudless day and he could hear the various animals in the forest pick up their chattering even more as they began moving around. Several birds flew over their heads and disappeared into the trees on the other side of the river.

“Wow.” Zim wished he could see the Sun itself but the trees were too tall. So he just stood there, holding Dib's hand and admiring how beautiful the sky was.

Dib wasn't really looking at the sky himself anymore. He was looking at Zim, entranced by how the light looked reflecting in the other's ruby eyes, memorizing that expression of awe that he saw so rarely on the other's face. As he stood there watching him, their arms brushing and hands together, he came to a realization. It has been tickling at the back of his mind for a while now but he always pushed it away and told himself not to be ridiculous, Zim would never feel the same way for him, but... he just couldn't ignore it anymore. He loved Zim. And even if it wasn't mutual, he was happy just seeing the other happy. He could be content as long as he could spend time with Zim like this.

Once the Sun was up high enough that the sky was pure blue, Zim looked away and met Dib's eyes. He was so happy and at ease that it made Dib smile, leaning in and asking without words if they could kiss. Zim obliged and Dib's heart pounded, stomach doing flips at how romantic it was. He took Zim's other hand, pulling him in closer, wishing this could be more, that they could have a romantic relationship...

Zim was the first one to break the kiss, gazing at Dib with a troubled expression. “You don't usually kiss me on the lips like that when we're not mating. Is there a meaning for it?”

“Nope,” Dib said quickly. “The moment just felt right, ya know, and kissing feels good no matter when you do it, so.”

“That's true, but...” Zim touched his lips, brows furrowing slightly. “I've studied human courting behavior. The meaning of the lip touching. It feels good, yes, but. It's an expression of love, right?”

“Yeah but love means many things,” Dib replied, but he was beginning to blush. He hoped Zim didn't realize why. “You can have love for your friends, love for your family, and yeah, romantic love for a partner too, but it's all different kinds of love and all equally important. I like you, of course, I love spending time with you and me kissing you... is a sign of affection.”

“But not a romantic one,” Zim stated.

Dib grinned, mind screaming yes. “Nah, not a romantic one.”

“I see.” Zim's hands slipped out of Dib's and he averted his eyes, looking back toward the tent. Was he disappointed? “We should probably begin our cryptid hunting, yes? What we came here for?”

“Yeah.” Dib ignored his inner romantic that was yelling at him to just confess how he really felt. “Let's start exploring.”

They got dressed and Dib rearranged his backpack, gathering the necessities for the walk into it and leaving the rest of his stuff in the tent. He and Zim each grabbed a water bottle, then zipped up the tent and got to their searching.

“I think they'd live fairly close to the water,” Dib said, leading the way over to the bank of the river. “But fairies can fly too so they probably aren't right next to it. We may have to go into the woods back that way, and on the other side of the river.”

“How do you propose we cross the water?” Zim asked.

“It's not very deep or wide, we can walk across. Though, if you'll look, there's plenty of rocks too.” Dib gestured to them. “We could jump across them.”

“Ehh.” Zim clearly wasn't looking forward to touching that water. He's given himself an immunity to the impurities in Earth water that he was allergic to, but he still didn't like being near it.

“But hopefully we got lucky and the fairies are on this side,” Dib said. He walked toward the waterfall, examining the cliff it came down from. He didn't have the tools to climb from this side but he was pretty sure if he went around the hill he would find an easier slope up to the top. It would likely be a rough climb, though. The trees and foliage were dense here. Who knew what paranormal creatures besides fairies could be here too. He hoped he would be able to see something cool like that.

He wasn't able to safely get very close to the waterfall itself, but he got as near to it as he dared, balancing on the rocks next to the river and trying to see if there was a hidden cave or anything behind the waterfall. There didn't seem to be. He picked up a rock and threw it at the cliff. The rock passed through the water and proceeded to just get swept away. Well, should have expected that.

“You can see better than I can,” he called to Zim. “Does it look like there are any openings in the rock behind the waterfall?”

Zim had taken his time in following Dib across the rocks, wary of slipping into the water, but now he stretched out his PAK legs and used them for balance as he moved closer to the waterfall and stared toward the cliff. After a moment, he actually picked up and threw a rock too. Unlike when Dib threw one, though, Zim used enough power that it was able to pass through the waterfall and hit the stone behind it. There was a solid clunk and then a splash.

“Seems like it's just rock back there,” Zim remarked.

“So no cool secret hidden cave behind a waterfall. Lame.” Dib went back to the safety of solid ground. “Let's just see what we find this way then.” They headed into the forest. They spent a good few hours walking around, investigating anything that looked promising but not turning up any fairies. Just birds, squirrels, a couple deer, and snakes. And countless insects.

Dib eventually wound up spraying himself with bug spray, which made Zim cringe and wave the offending smell away from himself. “Disgusting.”

“You want some too? There's just gonna be more bugs as it gets hotter out.”

“Absolutely not. Don't you dare spray that garbage on me.”

“Your loss.”

Though, as Dib soon observed, it wasn't Zim's loss at all. Though there were constant gnats and other bugs flying around them, they only ever seemed to try investigating Dib. They ignored Zim. Maybe it was just because Zim's breath and skin didn't smell like anything they associated with food? Dib was kinda jealous.

They stopped for a break in a relatively open area of the forest, sinking onto a tree that had fallen over. While Zim helped himself to another one of his snacks, Dib was hungry enough that he decided to eat one of his MREs. He took the beef stew one out and tore open the package.

“So how palatable are Earth military rations?” Zim asked.

“Huh? Oh, well I don't know about other countries but these ones that our military uses are pretty good. I guess it probably depends on the brand though. But I think these are the usual ones. I got these from a surplus store.” Dib took out the heater pack and a box from inside the package. He slid the small gray pouch that held the beef stew out of the box, squeezing it and then getting the heater pack ready.

“Oh? What's that thing?” Zim asked.

“You'll see.” Dib tore a strip of plastic off the top of the pack so he could slide the pouch inside, making sure the heater itself was under the pouch. Then he poured water in to the fill line, folded the extra plastic over, and pushed the whole thing back into the box, setting it on the trunk between them, making sure it was tilted up slightly.

After a few moments, steam began escaping as the material of the heater reacted to the water and grew hot.

“Oh!” Zim perked as he watched steam hiss out of the box. “So that little pad thing inside the plastic gets hot when exposed to water. Interesting! And clever!”

“Do irken MREs not have something like that?” Dib asked.

“No, generally they contain food that doesn't need to be cooked,” Zim replied. “Though if one really does need fire, any military-grade PAK has lasers capable of starting a fire.”

“What if an enemy disables the lasers?”

“Then food probably isn't really a concern at that moment.”

Dib shook his head. “Wow. Well, humans unfortunately don't carry around technology on our backs to start fires with, so MREs have heating packs. And matches, though I've never needed to use those. Might come in handy for starting a fire tonight though.”

“Speaking of which, you should have brought marshmallows and chocolate,” Zim said. “For s'mores! GIR has told me all about them, they sound delicious.”

“Ah man, sorry, I wasn't even really thinking about that. But tell you what, if you decide to come on the next trip, I'll make sure I bring stuff for s'mores.”

Zim beamed. “Excellent.”

While the beef stew was cooking, Dib checked out the rest of the MRE. There was powder for making lemonade with, which he decided to just pour into a full bottle of water, swishing it around. There was also a bag of pretzels, a mix of raisins and nuts, and a square of bread. “Oh man, I got the bread thing, which means... they better have included strawberry jelly in this.” After some more hunting, he was disappointed. It came with peanut butter and grape jelly. “Oh well.” He probably wouldn't even eat the bread; it was very plain and had a weird texture to it. He did open the peanut butter packet though, squeezing some out to nibble on while he waited.

Zim picked up the pretzels. “Are these any good?”

“Yeah, they're just normal pretzels.”

“Can I have them?”

“Knock yourself out.”

Zim struggled for a moment to tear it open; the packaging was surprisingly tough. Then he found where it was supposed to be opened from and tore the top open. “There we go.” He tossed a pretzel into his mouth. “Ooh, not bad! Salty.”

Dib chuckled at how Zim was delighted by the smallest of things sometimes. He checked on his beef stew. The heater pack was still pretty hot, but there wasn't really any steam escaping from it now. He pulled the pouch out and felt over it. It was all warm to the touch, even hot in a few places. That'll do. He tore it open, grabbed the spoon from the MRE package, and started eating.

Zim immediately made a face. “It looks like you're eating dog food.”

“Yeah it does kinda look like that but it's really good,” Dib replied. “It's got beef, potatoes, carrots, and peas. You wanna try?”

“No. I don't eat meat.”

“Right, sorry, keep forgetting you're allergic to most of it.”

“It's not just that, I wouldn't eat an animal from Irk either. Not unless I was really, truly starving. Irkens are herbivores.”

“Yeah, I figured that.”

“Well, we would sometimes supplement our diets with insects. But that's a little different. Actual meat though? All that sinewy, bloody muscle matter? Bleh.”

Dib shrugged. “Fair enough. Still, the MRE beef stew is surprisingly good for something that probably sat in this package for months. Maybe years. Again, surplus.”

“And yet it's edible. That's impressive, actually.”

They were quiet for a bit as they ate, just enjoying the food and the peace of the forest. Then, as Dib was finishing the stew, Zim nudged him and said, “Are those the fairies you're after?”

Dib quickly grew excited and turned to look where he was pointing, scrambling to put down the stew and get out his phone, but then he saw what Zim was looking at and was torn between groaning and laughing. “Zim. You idiot. Those are butterflies.”

“Oh. Well you didn't fully describe the fairy creatures to me, you just said they're small and can fly!”

“Guess that is my bad but I thought you'd know what a butterfly is by now. You're not too far off, though. The fairies will probably have wings like that. But their bodies are like a human's. Two arms, two legs, ya know? So keep your eye out for any really tiny humans with butterfly wings, got it?”

“Got it.”

When they were done eating, they used the MRE package to store everything back into and returned it to Dib's backpack, then kept walking. Dib identified the butterflies as tiger swallowtails and went ahead and took a picture of them with his phone. They were pretty and Gaz might like to see them later.

They had gone a few miles away from the river when Dib decided that the fairies simply weren't over this way and they should head back. He explained to Zim that they should be able to see more animals and more vibrant plants in areas where fairies liked to congregate, and also that they might be able to feel the nature magic that the fairies used.

“What does this nature magic feel like?” Zim asked.

“Dunno but the Swollen Eyeballs said you'll recognize it when you feel it.”

“That's helpful.”

They made the long trek back to their campsite. Dib was nervous that they might have gotten lost, but Zim said he had an excellent sense of direction but even if they were off, they just had to go west until they found that river again and follow it upstream.

They were both worn out and sweaty by the time they got back to the tent. It had grown quite hot out and Dib regretted wearing his coat. Now he took it off and threw it into the tent, then went over to the water to splash some onto his face and start washing his hands off.

Zim waited nearby. “Now what?”

Dib shrugged. “There's plenty of day left. I say we cross the river and start looking over there too.”

“Fine. You know I figured cryptid hunting would be a lot more exciting.”

“It'll be exciting if we find something but until then, it's usually pretty boring. Still, it's nice to be out in nature, wouldn't you say?”

“Eh, I guess. At least it smells better out here than it does in the city. I do miss my air conditioning though. And TV.”

“Who needs TV when you can see this!” Dib gestured dramatically toward the waterfall.

Zim stared at it for a bit and then looked back at him with a raised brow. “Yeah that's great but it's not exactly entertaining.”

“Yeah, I know, I miss TV too. And the Internet. But it's nice to get away from that kind of stuff for a while.” Dib got up and went to the tent to throw the trash away from their earlier lunch, and got some more water for the next hike. Once Zim was ready, they got back to it. They used the stones in the river to jump most of the way across it, though they still got to a point where the final gap was a bit further than they could leap.

At least, it was further than Dib could leap. While he was considering what to do, Zim backed up a bit and then ran, jumping clear over to the bank on the other side. He stumbled a bit but got his footing, scrambling to the grass and then turning to grin at Dib. “Your turn!”

Dib stared at him. “What the- that was like a seven foot gap!”

“Yeah? So what, that's nothing. Jump.”

“I definitely won't make it that far,” Dib replied.

“It's not like the water will hurt you if you don't make it. Come on.”

Dib took everything out of his pockets and put them in his backpack, then took his shoes and socks off, putting them away too. He should have worn shorts instead of pants, but well... too late to change that. He checked the depth of the water, took a breath, and then jumped, pushing off as hard as he could with both legs.

He made it about halfway before he just splashed down into the river. It was so cold it sent a shock up his body and he shivered, teeth chattering for a moment before he got used to it. Luckily it only came up to his waist. He hurried across the rest of the way, wincing as he felt one of the rocks at the bottom jab his foot, and climbed up onto the shore.

Zim was laughing at him. “Ahaha, saw that coming! Poor human, such long legs and you jump like a crippled Vortian.”

Dib rolled his eyes and shook water off his legs. “I should have brought a towel. Oh well.” He turned his foot up to check if the rock had cut him. He sighed upon seeing that it had. “Just my luck.”

“It's just a small wound,” Zim replied.

“Sure but I don't need to be walking around with blood pouring out of my foot.”

“It's not bleeding, it's- oh wait yes it is.” Zim stared as blood trickled out and began dripping onto the floor. He sighed and reached back to his PAK but Dib was already getting out his first aid kit and popping it open. Zim waited to see what he was getting and shook his head when the other took out a box of band-aids. “Seriously? You cut your foot open underwater, you need to disinfect it.”

“I don't have much disinfectant left and I wanna save that in case of animal bites, I'm fine just putting on the-”

“I don't need your foot going gangrenous and falling off out here because then I'm going to have to drag you all the back to your car!” Zim took a bottle of his own disinfectant and a wipe out of his PAK and got down next to Dib's leg, pulling his foot up. He wiped some of the grass and sand off of it and then sprayed it.

Dib hissed. “Ouch, fuck, what's in that... ohh, that feels much better.” The liquid immediately began tingling and the pain went away.

“If we were back at the lab I could send in nanobots to close that wound up in seconds. But no matter. It should close up on its own.” Zim reached up to Dib's ankle and pressed his thumb firmly against it, cutting off blood flow, while also using the wipe to apply pressure over the wound. After a few moments, the bleeding stopped and Zim put the band-aid on. “There.”

“Thanks. But ya know, I could have done that myself...”

“I know you could have. But I did it anyway.” Zim got up. “Now that you're done injuring yourself, let's go.”

Dib got up too, squeezing some of the water from his pant legs before getting his shoes and socks out.

“Part of my training was learning to provide medical aid to an injured comrade,” Zim stated as Dib put his shoes on. “So don't overthink it.”

“I'm not one of your comrades, though. I mean this cut was nothing but if something worse happens to me out here. You could just leave me to die. Then I won't be in your way and you can finish your mission.”

“Where's the fun in that? You dying of a random injury out in the woods is a pathetic way for you to go. No, if you die, it'd be because I killed you myself in battle.”

“You've had so many chances to kill me. But you haven't. I really think you just like having me around and you'd be sad if you actually did it.”

Zim scoffed. “It'd be boring, sure, but I'd move on. You're just a random inferior alien and I can live without you.”

“And I can live without you. But I don't think either of us want to do that.” Dib got up, putting some weight on his foot to test how it felt. There wasn't any pain, just a dull ache. “I know you probably don't see us like this. But I kinda think of you as my friend these days, ya know? I like that I can talk to you if I'm having trouble and that you'll help me if I need it. I like that you respect me. You take me seriously. And honestly? You're just really easy to talk to and funny and I just like being around you.”

Zim stared at him for a few seconds without speaking, his face carefully blank, though Dib thought he saw pain briefly flicker in his eyes. Then Zim said, “Of course you like being around me. I'm amazing. And you can be around me all you want once I've conquered this world and taken you with me as my loyal servant. Now, we have some tiny bug humans to find!” He turned and quickly marched away through the trees.

Dib groaned and rubbed his face before following him. He hated his traitorous heart.


	3. Saturday Afternoon

The rest of the day was spent exploring the woods at the foot of the waterfall but they didn't turn up any fairies. After a particularly harrowing escape from some of the local wildlife, Dib decided they should turn in for the night and try going up to the top of the waterfall tomorrow.

“I still don't understand your haste in getting away from that black and white kitten-looking thing,” Zim said as Dib led the way back toward the river.

“That 'kitten-looking thing' was a skunk,” Dib said, exasperated. “A skunk with her _babies_ on top of that. You always talk about how sensitive your sense of smell is. Well, what she could have done to you would make you want to rip your antennae off.”

“I didn't smell anything from that creature.”

“No but you would have.” Dib took a couple minutes to explain the skunk defense mechanism to Zim, who quickly grew horrified.

“That animal possesses biological warfare?! Incredible! And terrifying!”

“It's not like it'd kill you or anything, it's just really unpleasant. Pretty much every animal around here knows not to mess with skunks. Once that smell is on you, it's pretty much there to stay.”

“Hm, I may need to look into weaponizing skunks.”

“Please don't. Knowing you it'll all go wrong and your entire base will smell like skunk spray and I don't know if your computer has a sense of smell, but if it does, it will hate you.”

Zim reconsidered. “I may need to conduct any skunk experiments outside, then... but then the pesky neighbors will see... gah, never mind then.”

“Gotta love when I foil your plans that quickly,” Dib teased.

“Whatever, it's just a smell, even if it's horrible a determined soldier could probably just push right through it. A simple respirator could filter it out as well. Not the best way to weaken a species for conquest.”

When they got back to the river, Dib got ready to lean down and take his shoes and socks off again to wade across, but Zim stopped him.

“Don't bother. There's a quicker way.” Zim suddenly scooped Dib up in his arms, holding him bridal style, and there was clicking from behind him. Then his PAK legs came out and he lifted them up high, carrying Dib across the water.

Dib wrapped his arms around Zim's neck for support, staring up at his face, and Zim cast him a smirk. They made it to the other side of the river and Zim set down on his feet, retracting the legs, but he didn't put Dib down right away. Instead, he went ahead and kissed him.

Dib eagerly kissed back, the butterflies in his stomach going wild. It was criminal how much he wanted the other.

When they separated, Zim put him down and smiled up at him, looking pleased at how flustered Dib was. “It's so cute how you turn red like that.”

“Yeah? Well the way you turn purple is even cuter,” Dib responded. He knew that was a lame retort the moment it left his lips but Zim just snickered.

“I may need to kiss you more often. It's quite fun.”

“It is. Anything I do with you is fun.”

And now Zim was giving him one of those strange looks, the ones that always seemed to come after Dib was emotionally open with him, and Dib wondered what he was thinking now. Then Zim said, “I'm beginning to feel the same. I feel as if this trip wouldn't have been enjoyable if I had come with anyone other than you.” Then he turned to head toward the tent. “Are we going anywhere else today?”

“Oh, uh. No, not really.” Dib glanced at the sky. “It's gonna be dark soon. I think we should just build a fire and relax. I'll have another MRE for dinner, you can eat whatever, and. Yeah. We'll hike up the hill tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Zim returned to the tent and Dib went inside to put his stuff down, then got to collecting sticks to use for the fire.

“Could you find a bunch of rocks and arrange them in a circle somewhere near the tent?” Dib asked. “Probably uh... around there?” He gestured to an open area closer to the river.

“I suppose so.” Zim began collecting the rocks and stamped down the grass in the area before placing the rocks down.

Dib was able to find plenty of sticks, even large ones that would make a good base for the fire. He searched until he had brought over a few armfuls, laying them down near the ring Zim was making. Then he got the chairs out, popping them open and setting them up. Once the rocks were arranged, he got out a lighter and started working to get the fire going.

Zim watched for about ten seconds before deciding it was going too slowly. He stretched a PAK leg out and blasted the sticks with an intense heat that made Dib jerk back. Several sticks caught fire and it began spreading through the rest of the pile.

“There, far easier than what you were trying to do,” Zim said, sinking into one of the chairs.

Dib put the lighter away. “You're such a show-off.”

“I'm just using the tools available to me.”

“Well stop using your advanced alien technology all the time, you're making me look bad.”

“Trust me, I don't need technology to do that.”

Dib gave one of Zim's antennae a flick as he passed him to go into the tent, making Zim shout indignantly. Dib returned with an MRE and the entire cooler, setting it between them. While he got to opening his MRE, Zim moved his chair closer to the fire and got out one of his snacks, munching on it while entertaining himself tossing twigs and leaves into the fire and watching them quickly burn and turn to ash and smoke.

“I really should have brought marshmallows,” Dib said as he watched the fire too. “And hot dogs. Gonna have to make sure I do that next time.”

“Yes, good idea.” Zim wondered when he had last found himself sitting next to a campfire like this. He wasn't sure he's ever actually had an experience like this. It was similar to his survival training, where he and many other trainees would just be abandoned in various locations and expected to fend for themselves, but he couldn't call that camping. They had made fires for warmth only and often had to extinguish them quickly and find somewhere to hide to avoid capture by their instructors. And capture was always a prelude to the even more unpleasant interrogation and torture part of that training.

He shivered despite the warmth.

“You alright?” Dib asked.

“Oh, fine. Just thinking about some of my training days. Getting abandoned in hostile environments or even on alien worlds. Having to survive until the exercise was over. Fighting off the cold and keeping beasts at bay with a fire like this. It wasn't fun. But this... this is nice.”

Dib moved his chair closer too, leaning forward a bit with his elbows on his legs as he regarded the fire. “You know... that has me thinking.”

“Oh no.”

“Despite how different we are, how different our cultures are, and of course how different our planets are... we have a lot in common too. Think about how our people both had our beginnings. It might have been long ago and we took different paths as a species, but... we both started out like this. Sitting around fires. Being with people we cared about, probably enjoying meals together, talking... isn't that incredible?”

“Learning to build a fire is an evolutionary milestone for many species,” Zim replied. “But... I understand what you're saying. This truly is one of the few things that many of us can say we have in common. And even now, all these years later... I can feel a deep sort of comfort sitting here like this. Like... I don't know.” He swallowed, antennae twitching. “Like I've done it before.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it's nostalgic. A kind of genetic memory, I suppose.”

They spent a few hours just sitting there by the fire talking, telling each other stories. Zim had many, he has lived a long and exciting life, and Dib listened with rapt attention to his tales of growing up with the other military-assigned smeets, the sort of education and training they received, the way they were expected to behave. Zim has gotten into a lot of trouble and come close to death on multiple occasions but always just seemed to shrug it off and move on, ever confident that he was the best thing Irk has ever seen. Even though Zim's self-esteem bordered on delusion at times, Dib admired that about him. He never seemed to let anything get him down for long. No matter how hard he was knocked down, he got right back up.

But then, he got the feeling that was how all irkens were conditioned to be. They couldn't show weakness. They were expected to push themselves beyond the breaking point for their empire. Even if continuing to fight will spell death for themselves, if it benefited the cause, they would do it. Dib felt so bad for all of them. That was a horrible way to live yet they had normalized all that suffering. And he could tell that now, despite how Zim tried to hide it, he was still hurt by everything he had gone through.

Although Zim had no end of stories to tell, Dib was able to tell plenty of his own too. His childhood was better than Zim's but not really by much, as he was also held to a very high standard by his father and expected to be a certain way by everyone around him.

“They all just saw me as like... a mini Membrane,” Dib sighed. “And even from a young age I was very intelligent and curious... everyone who saw me said I was gonna be just like Dad. I had my own interests though, and hearing that... I guess it's what pushed me to be even more outspoken about the paranormal. I didn't want to be seen as just a clone of Dad, I wanted to be my own person. Follow my own dreams. I'm lucky that I was actually able to. Sure, Dad still wants me to be like him, but... he's accepted that I am my own person. He supports me and has even said he looks forward to seeing if I reveal something new to the world. But growing up it was such a struggle getting him to appreciate what I did, he was always dismissing my ideas, acting like it was just some childish phase. And it's... hard, having a parent, someone who's supposed to care about you... constantly disappointed in you. I just wanted someone to be proud of me.”

Zim looked sympathetic. “I understand wanting to make those you look up to proud. I've always worked hard to follow the orders of my superiors, to make them happy, to just hear those words... good job. It meant everything to me to be told I was doing well. But I heard it so rarely. Every day just felt like a struggle. Like I'm just a... a computer, processing input and giving the output they want. Not being praised because it's just expected. And it... it's how things are supposed to be, they said. My pride should come from knowing that my work is keeping the empire strong. Alone, I am not important. But as part of a larger machine, I still contributed to our strength. And I still wanted someone to actually say they were proud of me.” He sighed and looked away, but Dib thought he saw him wiping his eyes off. He glanced up at the sky, then said, “I could never talk like this back home. It'd be seen as treasonous. Funny, huh? Just speaking your mind. Being honest about your feelings. Treason. But that's just how things are on Irk. Can't change it. All you can do is play the game. If you step out of line... they kill you. Or imprison you, or exile you. They remove you from the system. The Tallest and the Control Brains say we are strong. But I long ago realized how fragile the whole thing really is.”

Dib was amazed at his honesty about it. Zim has felt this way for a while, apparently. So why was he just now talking about it? Was it just a sign of his trust in Dib? Or was it merely because, so many lightyears away from any other irken, he simply felt secure enough to speak his mind? “Wow. I don't really know what to say, that's just. That's awful, the way they treated you. Really.” He moved his chair closer to Zim's so he could rub his back. “I don't know if it means anything coming from me, but I think you're strong. You're greater than they think you are. I've seen how creative you are, how fast you can adapt to any challenge, how you recover when you're defeated. You are so smart, and talented, and just...” He gestured while trying to think of the right words and Zim watched him, his expression guarded, but Dib could see his antennae perking up and his posture relaxing. “You are so, so much more than what Irk says you are. You aren't meaningless. You're a person, with thoughts, hopes, dreams. You aren't just some computer and you shouldn't be treated like that. I'm proud of how far you've come. You survived that hellish upbringing and look at you, still going strong. You've got so much energy and so much drive, you can do whatever you put your mind to. So, even though you probably don't care about the opinion of an inferior lifeform from a distant planet Irk doesn't care about, I still admire you. And I want you to be happy.”

Zim's expression turned pained and Dib could tell he was struggling to speak. Looking closer, he saw his eyes glistening. Was he crying? Before Dib could ask, Zim got up and came over to him, pulling him into a hug. Dib slowly wrapped his arms back around him, holding him. Neither of them said anything. Dib's heart was beating hard and as the other's chest pressed to his, he felt his strange alien heart going just as fast.

Then Zim pulled back, antennae briefly touching Dib's face. He opened his mouth, closed it, and swallowed. Then he said, “Thank you,” in a quiet, raspy voice almost too low to understand. Then he walked away, going to their tent and disappearing inside.

Dib sat there for a bit, stunned to have seen such a raw, emotional display from the other. He could tell the walls Zim had built up were crumbling. He was disillusioned about his empire and it seemed he was starting to accept it. But how far would it go? Would Zim still cling to his society because it was all he's ever known? Or would he eventually just leave it behind? It was hard to say, but Dib hoped he did leave it. He deserved better. All irkens did, really. But he couldn't do much to help the rest. He could help Zim, though. He felt like Zim wanted him to help him, could feel the need for comfort in the way he had hugged him. So he was going to be there for him.

After waiting a while, he realized Zim wasn't coming back out of the tent. He decided to go check on him. He saw him laying on his sleeping bag inside, his boots and gloves off, curled up a bit, though his eyes were open.

“Hey, you alright?” Dib asked.

“Fine,” Zim said. “Just tired. And... nauseous.”

“Nauseous?”

“It's nothing, I had some of your Earth snacks, they probably just upset my squeedilyspooch. Some sleep to recover and I'll be fine.”

“Alright. I think I'm gonna go to sleep too.” Dib went back to the fire to put it out, dousing it with water just to make sure none of the embers could ignite again. Then he went to join Zim, zipping the tent up behind him and pulling his shoes off. He left everything else on for the warmth and got inside his sleeping bag. He looked over at Zim, still lying on top of his, and said, “The sleeping bags do open up, you know. So you can lay inside?”

“I know. I'm warm enough like this.”

“Okay then.” Dib took his glasses off and laid them down. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Dib only had his eyes closed for about a minute when Zim spoke up again.

“Can I lay next to you?”

“Sure,” Dib said sleepily.

Zim dragged his sleeping bag over closer and laid down, leaning his back against Dib. Dib pulled one of his arms out of his own bag so he could lay it over Zim. The other tensed a bit and for a moment Dib thought he was going to move away. But he didn't, instead relaxing back against him. Dib felt the other's fingers slip between his, small and warm. Much different than when he had his gloves on. Dib just kept his hand still and for a few moments Zim seemed to play with it, moving his fingers about, at one point just holding their palms together as if comparing the size difference. Then he simply held Dib's hand and relaxed, and when Dib glanced at him, saw him lay his head down.

Content, Dib gave his hand a squeeze and let himself drift off to sleep.


	4. The Discovery

When morning came, Zim said nothing about yesterday's discussion and Dib decided not to bring it up either. Dib wasn't that hungry so he just ate a packet of trail mix he had saved from one of yesterday's MREs while Zim didn't seem to need to eat at all, instead just drinking juice as he gazed up at the sky, still looking tired.

Dib decided to go clean off in the river, having noticed that his hair was getting oily and dirty and not wanting to deal with it anymore. He stripped down and left his stuff on the bank before wading out into the water. It was as chilly as yesterday and even more of a shock when he let himself sink in past the waist. He shivered and rubbed his legs, glancing back at Zim sitting nearby. The other was grinning at him. Dib took a breath, prepared for how much this was going to suck, and then dropped down onto his knees so the water went up to his shoulders, splashing his face. It was so cold it was like it sucked all the warmth right out of his body.

“I have made. A _horrible_ decision,” he stated.

“I could have told you that,” Zim called.

Well, at least he was fully awake now. Dib dunked his head under and scrubbed his hair for a bit before coming back up for breath. He was glad the river wasn't moving too fast but he still had a feeling it could pull him a good way downstream if he wasn't careful. He rinsed himself off thoroughly, feeling less cold as he got used to it, but then maybe he was just going numb. He decided not to spend too long here.

“Hey, I should have a bar of soap in a plastic bag in my backpack,” he called to Zim. “Can you bring it to me?”

Zim scowled and rolled his eyes, muttering something about not planning ahead, but went to get the soap. When he returned, he waited next to the river, tapping his foot.

“Could you bring it over here?” Dib asked, then laughed at the look on Zim's face.

To his surprise, Zim used his PAK legs to make his way into the water, walking quickly over to Dib and dropping the soap into his hands before turning to go. Dib grabbed one of the legs.

“You better not,” Zim warned.

“Come here, gotta tell you something,” Dib said, giving the leg a tug.

“What?” Zim turned back to face him, cocking his head.

Dib gave him a come hither gesture with a finger, making bedroom eyes and pursing his lips for a kiss.

“I spoil you, human, you know that right?” Zim asked with a sigh, but he leaned in to kiss him.

And then Dib splashed him.

Zim jerked back, spitting and swiping the water from his face. “Ugh, wretched beast, of course! I should have known it was a trap!”

“Yeah, you should have. Your combat instincts are rusty, Space Boy.”

Zim scowled at him. Then he dropped down into the water and splashed Dib back. Dib grunted as some of it got in his nose and turned away, coughing and rubbing his face.

“HA!” Zim shouted triumphantly.

Dib blinked his eyes open and looked back at him. “Okay, fine, I deserved that.” Though his vision was a little blurry without his glasses, he was able to see Zim well enough with how close he was, and what he saw made him stare. “Wait, are you in the water?”

“Yes, I am.” Zim had pulled his PAK legs in and was treading the water next to Dib. “I have to say, this could make for some good exercise, just staying here resisting the current.”

Dib chuckled. Zim was so short that he couldn't even really reach the bottom with his feet; not without having to dunk his head under. He saw the other shivering and said, “Cold?”

“Not at all.”

“You're a terrible liar.”

“Hmph.” Zim rubbed his arms and made a face as he tugged at his sleeves. “Should have disrobed before doing that...”

“What was that you were saying about planning ahead?”

Zim splashed him again. Dib snorted and began washing himself off with the soap. He could hardly feel his fingers so he definitely needed to get out soon. Next to him, Zim swam in a few circles before getting bored and lifting back up on his PAK legs, going back to land and climbing out. He immediately shed all his clothing and began laying it out in a dry area. Dib tried to watch what he was doing but he was too far away to see clearly. He finished cleaning off and made his way out of the water, though his numb fingers ended up slipping and letting go of the bar of soap along the way.

“Ah damn it, I liked that brand,” he muttered to himself as the soap was swept away. But there was no way he could catch up to it, so he let it go and got out of the water. It wasn't that warm out yet but the air still felt much nicer than the water had. He could now see that Zim had taken a device out of his PAK that seemed to work like a heat lamp, aiming it at his clothes to dry them off. Steam was rising off of them.

“That's pretty cool,” Dib commented, picking up his towel to dry off with.

“Indeed. Usually I would use this to either warm myself or a comrade suffering from hypothermia, but it works for drying clothes as well.”

Dib held a hand in front of the device to see how it felt. The air coming off from it was almost hot to the touch and he yanked his hand back. “Damn.”

“I have it on one of the higher settings,” Zim said. “Probably should have warned you.”

“Probably.” Dib blew on his hand and waved it a few times to try and get rid of the stinging, slightly impressed that it hurt even despite how numb his skin was. He went to gather up his old clothes and take them to the tent, then put on clean clothes. Then he realized something was missing. “Uh.” He checked the pile of dirty clothes, then leaned out of the tent. “Zim? Have you seen my glasses?”

“You left them on top of your clothes when you undressed,” Zim replied.

“Yeah, but. They aren't here.” Dib went outside, searching where he had left his clothes at. His glasses were nowhere to be found. “Come on, they gotta be here somewhere... I didn't even bring another pair!”

Zim finished drying out his clothes and put the heating device away, getting dressed and going to join Dib. “Here, I'll find your seeing devices.” He scanned the area but also couldn't find them. “Strange. They were right here.”

Dib sighed. “Just my luck.”

“You know, I could probably fix whatever is wrong with your eyes-”

“There is no way I'm letting you near my eyes.”

“You're no fun.”

Dib looked back at the river as he wondered where his glasses could have went. “That's so weird...”

“Yeah, I definitely didn't see any animals come by and there definitely haven't been humans, so- gah!” Zim suddenly shouted and Dib spun around to see what happened.

There was something glowing and flitting near them, and he strained to try and see what it was. Zim was staring at it too, and he suddenly leaped after it.

“Hey, give me those!”

The glow jerked back away from him and Dib saw something familiar hanging under it, black plastic and large lenses... his glasses! He moved toward the glow. “What is that?” he asked Zim.

Zim lunged and swung his hand out so fast the glow couldn't dodge, grabbing it and pulling it in. “Haha, yes!” He took the glasses away and gave them back to Dib, who hastily put them on.

The world came into focus and he was able to see that below the glow was a small figure that struggled in Zim's hand, tiny fists beating against his finger while its wings fluttered desperately.

“Zim, that's a fairy!” Dib shouted.

“Oh? This?” Zim examined the creature. “Oh. So it is.”

“You're hurting her wing, let go!” Dib pulled Zim's hand open so the fairy could escape.

She jumped out of his grip and suddenly lost a few inches of air, lower left wing noticeably bent. She grimaced and had to flap harder to stay alight, casting a glare at Zim. Dib wondered what she had wanted with his glasses and tried to speak with her, but she just suddenly turned and took off, flying away.

“Wait, you're hurt, don't go!” Dib called, but the fairy just kept going, occasionally bobbing from side to side, but gaining altitude until she was higher than the top of the waterfall, disappearing over the top of the cliff.

Dib stood there for a moment in shock over what just happened before groaning and rushing to get his backpack. “Good job, Zim, you injured a fairy.”

“I didn't realize that's what it was, I just grabbed it to get your ocular devices back!”

“Yeah, well, we're gonna see where she went. Come on, let's see if we can get up to the top of that hill.” Dib headed into the woods and Zim followed him, grumbling to himself. Dib got a notebook out and wrote in it as he recalled everything he could remember about the fairy. She had been quite small, probably only about three inches tall, and seemed to be mature, though he could really only go off human standards. She had looked like a young woman, but could actually be decades old. Or, she may have been still a teenager or even a child by fairy standards. He couldn't be certain.

She had worn clothes of woven green leaves and had gossamer wings that reminded him of a dragonfly. Her eyes were vivid green and she had long, shiny black hair. Not to mention that magical white glow around her, though he had noticed the glow was more dim after she flew away.

“Did you hear her saying anything?” Dib asked.

Zim swatted a spiderweb out of his way and said, “No, she was just growling the whole time I was holding her. Well, when I saw that she had your glasses she was smiling and I think she was laughing, but it was very quiet if she was.”

Dib nodded and made note of that. “I wonder if we'd be able to talk to her. They probably have their own language. Might know English though... or Spanish. Hopefully one of those two.”

“If they speak any popular language from this planet I'd be able to translate,” Zim said. “I've learned most of them by now.”

“Oh yeah! Yeah, that might come in handy. But we're both out of luck if they only speak their language.”

It took a lot of walking but finally they found an area where the land sloped up gently enough for them to work their way to the top of the cliff. The Sun was high in the sky by the time they were at the top and they were both getting sweaty from the uphill walking. They made their way back to the river and got down to splash some water in their faces, then followed it south to get back near the waterfall. They kept an eye out for any glowing that could belong to a fairy, discussing what sort of homes the fairies could have. Dib wasn't even sure how many there were, the tip he had gotten from the Swollen Eyeballs had been pretty vague. There could be only a few of them living up here. Or an entire village.

“They live in harmony with nature so their homes will probably be made out of whatever they can find out here,” Dib said. “They could use grass and mushrooms, or live inside logs, maybe even inside living trees... or just stay out under the stars. I'm really looking forward to finding out.”

“Yes, should be interesting.” Zim could see why this was so exciting to Dib. It was definitely fun discovering something new.

They were only a couple minutes from where Dib figured the waterfall would be when he felt a strange sensation crawl across his skin. He froze, checking himself over to see if he had walked through a spiderweb, but didn't see anything. He took another step forward and felt it again. It was hard to describe, somewhat warm, like the most delicate lace on his skin, but nothing was visible touching him.

Zim had kept walking while he paused but then the other stopped too. “What the...” He checked the air in front of him and then looked around himself. “What is that?”

“You feel it too?” Dib asked.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Not sure. But... it might be magic.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. The nature magic.” Dib has very rarely gotten to feel the touch of magic. It always seemed to feel different depending on what kind it was and what it was meant to do, but this was pleasant. He suddenly found himself feeling very, very at peace with everything around him. The flow of the river, the songs of birds in the trees around him, the grass under his feet. Even the insects that hovered around his face stopped being bothersome.

“I... feel light,” Zim said, moving to Dib's side and taking his hand as he looked around. “And happy. This is all... hm.” He raised his gaze to the canopy of the trees overhead, then looked back at Dib, smiling. “It's beautiful out here.”

“It really is, huh? Just look at the sunlight coming down through the leaves. That crystal clear river. Come on, let's keep going.” Dib led him further. The grass seemed to grow brighter and more lush as they went and they could see more flowers. Bees buzzed about and squirrels chased each other between the trees.

At one point they passed a doe who was drinking from the river and she didn't even flinch, just lifting her big brown eyes to gaze at them for a few moments before looking back at the water.

They were soon at the edge of the cliff, watching the river cascade down and continue its journey about fifty feet below them. They could see their campsite from here.

“What a view.” Dib took his phone out to take a few pictures. It was getting low on battery but that was fine, he probably wouldn't need it for anything else today. If it did die, he had his camera.

After taking a moment to enjoy the view, the two turned toward the forest to look for the fairies. They knew they had to be close, could feel the magic in the area, seeming so intense it was a wonder it couldn't be felt from down below.

They were only a few steps into the trees when a snake approached them, seeming to set its sights right on them rather than fleeing like the other ones they've seen. Zim raised his hands defensively, ready to strike, but Dib held out an arm to hold him back.

“Hold on. It's not venomous,” Dib said.

“I would still prefer not to be attacked by that creature,” Zim replied.

“It's just a garter snake. I think. Though I've never seen one with bright blue lines like that.” Dib got down and offered a hand to the snake as if it was a dog. “Come here, it's okay.”

He expected the creature to strike or finally turn and flee, but instead it came right up to him, tongue flicking out as it seemed to examine his hand. Then it eased its head onto his palm and he gave its neck a stroke. Apparently comfortable, the snake started winding its way up his arm.

“Are they usually that friendly?” Zim asked.

“Not at all.” Dib straightened, holding his arm up as he looked at the snake closely, wondering why it had come to him like that. Then there was rustling nearby and he turned around. Several balls of light had come up behind him and he heard the buzzing of wings, then the lights all faded and he could see the figures under them.

They were surrounded by fairies. There were easily dozens of them, all gazing at him curiously, and he could tell they were keeping their guard but also wanted to get closer. Even the tallest among them seemed to be no more than four inches, while there were young ones hardly an inch in size. They all had thin, fragile insect-like wings, though he saw a variety of colors and shapes to them. As for clothes, most of them wore garments fashioned from leaves, grasses, and flowers. Though a few of the more muscular fairies, who also happened to be wielding spears, had donned shiny insect carapaces, scales, even furs.

Dib could feel Zim pressing to his side, defensive and clearly not knowing what to do. Dib cleared his throat and gave a little wave with the hand that didn't currently have a snake on it. “Hello. Nice to meet you.”

The fairies exchanged looks and a fast, quiet sort of chittering seemed to pass between them. Dib struggled to make out any specific words, but before he could, one of the fairies came forward. He looked quite old and frail, but there was strength and wisdom behind his purple eyes.

“Well, with how you greeted our slithery friend, you seem trustworthy enough. What brings you here, strangers?” he asked in an accented but quite audible voice. Dib wondered if it was a strain for him to speak loud enough to be heard by a human.

“I'm sorry if my arrival here was rude,” Dib said. “But I'm an-” He wasn't sure they would be comforted by him saying he was a paranormal investigator. So he continued, “Explorer. And a scholar, I suppose. My friend and I heard that there may be fairies out here, so we thought it could be interesting to take a look. We mean no harm to any of you.”

The fairy nodded sagely, then said, “We have no quarrel with respectful explorers. But I think young Lily would have something to say about your claim of meaning no harm.”

“Lily... oh.” Dib saw the green-eyed fairy that Zim had grabbed, hovering somewhat further back then the rest. Her wing seemed to be healed but she looked irate. “I'm so sorry, Zim was just startled-”

“He's capable of speaking, is he not?” the old fairy interrupted. “It is not your place to apologize on his behalf. If he is sincerely sorry, he may tell Lily so.”

“What?” Zim snapped. Dib gave him a firm nudge to the ribs, making him grunt.

“It was you who grabbed her,” Dib said. “So apologize to her.”

Zim sighed but approached Lily. The other fairies made way for him, watching him closely, and Lily herself backed off too, raising her hands. Green magic glowed within them and Zim stumbled, before looking down to see that vines had suddenly grown up and ensnared his boots. He stopped and looked back at the other, showing his hands as he tried to placate her. “I'm sorry for hurting your wing. I was just trying to return my eh, friend's glasses to him. He needs them to see, so I couldn't let you take them.”

“I wasn't taking them,” she said haughtily. “I was just looking at them. When I saw you wanted them back, I tried to play a little keep away. That's all.”

“I would have gladly played, if I had known. But I didn't realize that was your intention. I just wanted to get them back. Because as I said, he can't really see without them.”

“Yes, I'm familiar with what humans need glasses for. I just so rarely get to look at human artifacts up close.” Lily dropped her hands and the vines fell away from Zim's feet. “Apology accepted, though I must urge you to be more careful in the future.”

“I will be.” Zim quickly retreated back over to Dib.

“So uh, this snake... I've never seen one with this color,” Dib said to the fairies.

“Many of the species that live here have been affected by our magic over time,” the old fairy explained. “They also do not tend to travel far so they have not been noticed by many humans. They only gain these colors when in our company. If this snake were to lay eggs, and her children were to somehow end up far from here, they would resemble the average garter snake.”

“Cool. So I guess you guys tend to the animals here?”

“The animals all tend to themselves, as all of nature does. But we have been known to help them when they need it. If they are sick, or injured, they often seek our aid. We nurse them back to health and allow them to return to their regular lives. And, if their wounds or ailments are too severe, we provide them a peaceful place to die. And we would give them the same burial we would give to one of our own, returning them to the Earth so that their energy may be used again.” The fairy's eyes seemed to twinkle as he examined the two. “I felt something special about your energy when you approached us. The moment you entered our land I knew you were both unique individuals with a strange but powerful destiny linking you. I'm not sure what that destiny is; it is for you both to discover. But I feel a yearning for acceptance deep in your hearts, an isolation from the rest of your people, yet you find love in each other. It is quite profound.”

“Love? Oh, ah, well I do like hanging out with him,” Dib said meekly, blushing, while Zim cast him an odd look.

“I can see that. You two were both rather enjoying your time together the other night.”

Dib's blush grew darker and now Zim blushed too, Zim yelping, “Were you spying on us?!”

“Not necessarily, but we can sense a lot of what happens in these woods, including when the animals are making love. You two were no different.” The other smiled at their flustered expressions. “It is so interesting how humans are so shy when it comes to discussing one of nature's most pleasurable experiences. And not just humans, but whatever being you are.” He nodded to Zim.

Dib was about to express surprise that he had realized Zim wasn't human, then remembered that Zim wasn't wearing his disguise so it must be obvious. Still, he has seen people look right at Zim without his disguise and just think he was wearing a costume or had a medical disorder, so...

“My people do not speak of the subject very openly, no,” Zim said, glancing away.

The old fairy was clearly curious yet also respectful, not prying further. “Well, gentlemen, I think introductions are in order. I am Thyme, the elder of our village. I do not think of myself as a leader, and indeed we do not have any leaders, but due to my long years on this Earth the young ones often come to me for advice on various matters. Some have even taken to calling me Old Thymer, which I find delightful.”

That got chuckles out of both Zim and Dib, who then introduced themselves in return.

Upon hearing Zim's name, Thyme hummed and said, “You are not of this Earth, are you?”

If he had been around humans, Zim would have denied it immediately. But he knew these creatures remained in the woods and would not be able to alert the rest of the planet. Even if they did come across another human, he felt like he could trust them not to reveal his secret. So he said, “I am not. I am an irken, my home planet is Irk, located...” He looked up at the sky, doing some mental calculations before pointing almost directly up. “Approximately 200,000 light years away in what those on Earth know as the Small Magellanic Cloud.” He could see awed looks among the others, who looked up too and chatted to each other. “Perhaps I should explain further, see a light year is an incredibly far distance, light travels at-”

“186,000 miles a second, hence a light year is the distance it can travel in a year, which is a vast distance indeed,” Thyme finished.

Zim stared and even Dib was impressed.

“We are quite studied on many aspects of our natural world, and that includes light itself,” Thyme said with a wink.

“We could learn so much from you,” Dib said.

“My boy, your people have already learned much there is to know about this world,” Thyme said good-naturedly. “I think it is us who could learn more from you.”

“I think we could both teach each other,” Dib said. “If you don't mind us staying for a while?”

“Your company would be delightful. Come, let us show you around.”

Dib put the snake down and she disappeared off into the grass. He and Zim joined Thyme in traveling to the nearby fairy village.


	5. Unexpected Altercation

The village was quite a sight. The fairies had built homes out of wood that perched on trees, held in place by vines, though some homes seemed to have been grown right into the bark itself. Down below the houses were farms where a variety of flowers and tiny crops grew, seeming to be scaled down counterparts to foods Dib was familiar with like carrots, wheat, and potatoes. There were even fruits too, tiny little berry bushes and apple trees that looked like mere saplings compared to him.

“This is amazing.” He knelt down to get a look, watching as a couple fairy women gathered fruit from one of the trees. They smiled and waved at him, before offering up a handful of the apples. “Oh, I couldn't.”

“Please, we have plenty and we always share with our guests,” Thyme said.

So Dib accepted the small apples. They were the size of BBs and he worried that he might drop them. He very carefully lifted them to his mouth and tossed them in whole. They were crunchy and surprisingly sweet and juicy despite their size. “Wow, those are good.”

“I wish we had larger ones to offer but I'm glad you like them. We have carefully cultivated all of what you see here from their larger relatives that you are familiar with. Our crops receive plenty of care and are infused with magic, providing strength to all who consume them.” Thyme accepted an apple for himself. “I am rather surprised you were so quick to eat. As someone who seems to have familiarity with magical creatures, shouldn't you know not to accept any offerings from a fae?”

Dib froze, quickly growing nervous, but Thyme just laughed.

“Relax, my boy. We aren't trickster fae and what we give is freely offered, with no expectation of you paying us back.”

Dib let out a breath of relief. “Oh. Whew, you had me going there. I'm not sure how I would have explained to my dad and sister that I couldn't come home because I got myself indebted to some fairies.”

“Ah, you wouldn't have to worry about that. Odds are you wouldn't even get a chance to try and explain anything to your old family. You would have already been spirited away. Do try to be more cautious.”

Dib agreed and Zim asked, “How is one meant to tell whether you're dealing with a nice fae or a tricky one?”

“You likely won't be able to tell. Not unless you have an acute sense for magic and can feel their intentions. The trickster types are recognizable to us, but a human might struggle unless highly attuned to magic. As for you? I do not know if you can sense magic.”

“I can, I feel it right now. Dib and I both felt it when following the river here.”

“Is that so? Interesting. But, it makes sense. Perhaps you are not of this world, but you are of this same universe. Like us, your very essence was born in the heart of stars, the elements of which were all forged within the same crucible at the dawn of time. We are connected despite how very different we appear on the outside.”

Zim wasn't expecting such a poetic perspective from the little creature. What methods did they employ to learn these things about the universe, he wondered. He saw no telescopes in their little village. No particle colliders with which to explore molecular physics. He considered asking about their research methods before deciding to just leave it alone. Maybe it was just part of their magic. “I can't argue that,” he replied. He got the feeling he was going to be reflecting on this for a while.

Thyme went on, “If you can feel magic, you may be able to guess whether you are talking to a fae who intends to trick you. But really, it comes down to your gut instincts. You both decided to trust us today. But perhaps if you were to meet a less friendly being, you would decide to be wary. Who can say.”

“I'll definitely be more careful in the future,” Dib promised.

“Good. I don't want any harm to come to you.”

They spent a while with the fairies, talking to them, Dib taking plenty of notes. He was even allowed to snap a few photos of them, using both his phone and his camera. He promised he wouldn't reveal where they were. Odds were the public wouldn't believe any of this was real anyway. Only the Swollen Eyeball Network would take his findings into consideration and they would only use it for their own research, they didn't plan on spreading it around.

But as much as Dib wanted to stay the rest of the day, it was Sunday and they really needed to head back so they could be at school tomorrow. Dib knew he would never hear the end of it from Membrane if he skipped Monday.

He was sitting near a cozy fire the fairies had built, two fairies hovering near his head braiding flowers into his hair scythe, when he sadly told them he needed to go.

They expressed disappointment, as they had been enjoying listening to his stories as well as having a new person to tell theirs to in turn.

“I know, but I've really gotta be home in time for school tomorrow, and it's a long walk back to my car,” he said.

They nodded in understanding but still looked downhearted.

“Will you visit again?” Thyme asked. He was sitting on a mushroom nearby with a pipe and had told a fair number of stories himself.

“Well, I dunno... do you guys want me to?” Dib looked around as the others all nodded and agreed. “Then yeah, I think I can try to see you again soon. I probably won't be able to come too often though, it's a pretty long trip and there's a lot of other things I like to do on the weekends, but uh... yeah, I'll visit.”

“I could fly us in with the Voot,” Zim said. He was also lounging near the fire, also with a couple fairies covering him with flowers as a show of affection, but these ones had made strings of flowers using thin vines and were carefully wrapping them down the lengths of Zim's antennae. Dib was surprised to see him let them do that, but he explained that they were being gentle and the flowers smelled nice so he didn't mind.

“Your spacecraft would likely startle the wildlife,” Thyme said. “That wouldn't be preferable.”

“Oh, it's very small and quiet,” Zim assured him. “I can take it right in and land it over there near the river, and we can walk here.”

“We could give it a try. But if it is too disruptive, I will have to ask you to not use it again.”

“Fair enough.”

The fairies finished decorating them with flowers and backed away with giggles, cooing over how cute they were. Dib definitely heard more than one of them whisper, “Wish he was fairy-sized...” with adoring tones.

“Thank you so much for your hospitality,” Dib said as he got up, moving slowly to make sure he didn't run into anyone. The fairies were nimble and could usually dodge him if he didn't notice one of them, but he still felt bad about it so he was careful anyway.

“You're welcome, my boy.” Thyme hovered up to grasp one of his fingers, giving it a little shake. “Thank you for your visit.” He looked at Zim, who had been fairly quiet during the storytelling, which was quite unlike him. “And for yours. In all my years I've never had the pleasure of meeting an extraterrestrial. So thank you for the opportunity.”

“You're welcome.”

They said their goodbyes to various other fairies as they made their way out of the village. Toward the edge they ran into Lily, who was sitting on a log petting a crow who was relaxing next to her. The bird fluffed up at the sight of Zim and Dib, but Lily just said, “It's okay, they're friends,” and the bird relaxed.

“Well, we're out of here,” Dib said. “It was nice meeting you. Sorry about what happened, again.”

She shrugged. “It's fine. I was careless.”

“Or I was just fast,” Zim said with a smirk. Dib gave him a push but Lily just laughed.

“Maybe. I certainly didn't expect you to move as fast as you did.”

“So you're interested in human stuff, huh?” Dib asked her.

She nodded. “I've always wanted to meet humans and learn more about them. We have stories, of course, but it doesn't quite compare to meeting real ones. It's just so dangerous, though. We have our magic but a determined human can still kill one of us easily. But when I can, I collect human-made trinkets and save them in my house. I have a thumbtack. I have a copper coin that I believe is called a penny?”

Dib nodded. “A penny, yes.”

“I also have a black shoelace and a marble. Many little things, but nice nonetheless.”

“Hm, let me see...” Dib took his backpack off and set it down, searching through it. Then he took out one of the empty bottles of water from the earlier hike up here. “Would you like the cap off of this?”

Her eyes brightened and she flew up to inspect it. “The cap is nice, but I like this photo.” She ran her hands against the label, which featured a picture of a mountain with a stream coming off of it. Dib hadn't really thought about it but the colors were rather pretty.

“Oh yeah, the label. Sure, you can have that.” He carefully unstuck the label from the bottle and took off the cap, offering both to her. She gathered them in her arms. Despite how large they looked relative to her, she held them easily.

She beamed. “Thank you!”

“No problem. It's good to think of someone appreciating those. And I'll make sure I recycle the rest of the bottle.”

“I appreciate that.” She flew up and pressed a little kiss to his cheek. “I like humans that care about our Earth mother.”

He blushed and Zim laughed at him. Then she flew over to him and gave him a kiss too.

“And thank you for apologizing, I could tell it's not something you do much.” She went back to sit next to the crow, giggling at the sight of purple spreading on Zim's face. “I hope you nice boys come back soon!”

“Haha, yeah,” Dib replied, giving a small wave. Then he hurriedly walked away. Kissed by a fairy! What a story he'll have for the Swollen Eyeballs.

Zim walked quickly next to him, rubbing his face. “Affectionate one, wasn't she?”

“Yeah. She seemed cool, we gotta talk to her more next time we come.”

“So you do want to bring me along on another trip out here?”

“Sure. If you want to visit the fairies again you can definitely come.”

“They're strange, tiny, primitive creatures,” Zim remarked but Dib could tell there was no malice behind the statement. “But quite a joy to talk to nonetheless. Yes. I would like to visit again.”

“Ya know, you won't be able to visit them if you conquer Earth,” Dib teased.

“I know.” Zim's brows furrowed. “But... I'll enjoy it while I am here.” He said no more about it, looking troubled, and Dib left it alone.

After a few minutes of walking, during which they left the warm magic of the fairies behind and began going downhill, Dib said, “So, remember when Thyme said that thing about a strange but powerful destiny linking us together?”

“Not at all.”

“And us finding love in each other?”

“Nope.”

Dib rolled his eyes. “Come on, Zim. I wanna talk about that.”

“What's there to talk about?”

“I really think he was getting at something when he said that stuff.”

“So? He doesn't know us. Has no idea that we're truly sworn enemies. Our fate? Hah. Our fate is to one day have a final, decisive battle that will likely end in one of us dead and the other able to complete our mission. Whether it be I handing over Earth to the Tallest, or you proudly showing off my carcass to the world as proof of the existence of aliens.”

“I don't want to do that,” Dib said.

“Eh?”

“Seriously. I haven't wanted to do that for a long time.”

“You haven't?”

“No,” Dib said, exasperated but trying not to show his frustration. “I keep telling you, I like you. I don't want to hurt you anymore. I want to be with you. This thing between us... it's been really hard for me because these feelings are so new and I keep questioning them but I just can't ignore how I feel... Thyme was right, okay? I love you.”

Zim stopped walking. He was quiet for a good while, staring straight ahead. His antennae drew sharply back and trembled. “Then you are a soft-hearted fool.”

It stung but Dib could tell he was struggling with some feelings of his own. “Maybe. If being in love is foolish, then fine. I'm foolish. But it doesn't change how I feel. I want to be with you. If that means letting you take me with you as a slave when you conquer Earth? Fine. But if it... if it means you join my side, if you just live here on Earth, we... we can be happy together. Because I think you love me too.” He had told himself it wasn't possible but the pain in the other's expression really did seem to say he felt that way. Thyme had been very wise and perceptive. If that's what he had seen between them, Dib didn't want to think he was wrong.

“Let's say I did,” Zim said at last. “It wouldn't matter. Invaders need no one. I would ignore those feelings and focus on what I was sent here to do. I won't let you distract me.”

“Well you sure had no problem letting me distract you all weekend!” Dib shouted. Zim was taken aback and opened his mouth to argue, but Dib kept going. “You could have just let me go alone, and then used this time to actually finish one of your plans! To actually do what you've been saying you were going to do for six years, to come up with some brilliant plan to weaken humanity and prepare Earth to be taken by Irk, but you didn't! You came to the woods with me to camp and screw around and look for fairies! Because you like being around me! You like having fun like this and you're enjoying the break from your mission, because you're tired of the mission! But you're so deep in denial I'm surprised you're not drowning in it!” He knew he needed to stop but he just couldn't hold himself back, he had so many emotions he just had to let them out. “You said earlier that you know how messed up your society is! So why do you keep serving it anyway? You can abandon the whole thing! You can flip the Tallest the bird, throw off that dumb uniform, and finally live the life you've always wanted to have! Or do you just like being seen as an obnoxious, violent, incompetent fuck-up?!”

The resulting silence from Zim was deafening and it seemed even the birds and other animals had gone quiet in response to Dib's outburst. Dib immediately regretted everything when Zim's measured expression broke, lips pulling back into a snarl even as tears formed in his eyes. Then he was screaming, but what he was saying, Dib could barely tell. It sounded like he had slipped back into irken, rasping and growling at him, his claws clenching like he was holding himself back from tearing them into Dib's face. Only the occasional word came out in English and what Dib could understand confirmed that Zim was absolutely pissed. He swore at him and made violent threats, but there was pain in his face too, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Dib could do nothing but wait it out, not wanting to touch him for fear that he would attack, his heart aching at how hurt the other looked beneath his fury.

Then, abruptly, Zim stopped yelling. He was breathing hard, eyes wide, his hands shaking at his sides. In a rough voice, he said, as if to himself, “Not... not a fuck-up. I'll prove it. I'll make you regret ever talking to me like that.” He then spun and walked away, taking his communicator out of his PAK and pressing something before barking, “GIR! GIR, bring the Voot out and pick me up!”

“Yes, sir!” GIR called back.

“W-wait, Zim...” Dib hurried after him and tried to grab his hand. Zim flung him backward and Dib grunted when he hit the ground.

“Don't touch me! Stay back or I'll kill you right here!”

“Zim,” Dib tried again, beginning to get up, but then all four of Zim's PAK legs came out and dove toward him so fast they were a blur. He had no chance to move away before they were striking, two going right through his sleeves and pinning him to the ground, a third pressing against his chest over the heart, and the fourth going to his throat.

Zim stood over him, eyes dark. “Do you think I'm playing?” he said, voice low and cold. It had none of the playful quality of their usual banter. When Dib opened his mouth to reply, the point in his throat dug in and he quickly closed his mouth. “That's it. Shut up. One more word out of you and I'll kill you. I mean it. You think I'm incompetent? You think I can't do what I was trained to do? Well, I was trained to kill in countless ways, Dib. I have killed more people than I can count, many without even intending to. Those that I actually want dead? They die. No exceptions. So test me. Call me incompetent. And I'll show you the surgical precision with which I can remove your entire respiratory tract from your body.”

Dib didn't reply. It's been a long time since he was this scared of Zim and though he wanted to believe he was trying to intimidate him and wouldn't actually do it, he wasn't willing to test it. He just stared at him, silently begging him to back off, trying to tell him with his eyes that he was sorry.

Zim waited for only a few seconds before pulling the legs back. “That's what I thought.” He walked away and Dib slowly got up onto his hands, shaking as he caught his breath, trying not to cry. “Your pathetic feelings for me mean nothing. I never should have let you get so close to me. You've manipulated me into tolerating behaviors from you I never should have. I won't let myself be distracted by your charm again. I will make a name for myself by conquering Earth, no matter what it takes.” His movements were almost rigid, robotic as he marched away. Up above, Dib could see that GIR had already swooped in with the Voot cruiser; he has become a remarkably good pilot over the years.

The cruiser came in for a landing, breaking through some trees as it did, and Dib flinched. The fairies weren't going to like that. Once the cruiser was on the ground, GIR flung the hatch open and said, “Hi Master! Hi Dib!”

Dib was too upset to even raise a hand in greeting. Zim, meanwhile, climbed in and moved GIR aside to take the controls for himself. He met Dib's eyes as the hatch closed and Dib thought he saw misery in the other's face. Then the ship was being swiftly turned around and flown back up through the trees, disappearing from sight with a sonic boom that made several birds take flight.

Dib sat there staring at the sky for several moments before slowly sinking down onto the ground, trying to get a hold of himself, telling himself that he should have known that Zim wouldn't accept his feelings even if he did feel the same way, but... it was still awful seeing him just leave like that. It felt like a knife had embedded itself in his heart and he found himself crying. Every time he thought their relationship was going somewhere, it just seemed to take several steps back. Why did he keep doing this to himself?

And now it seemed like he might have pushed Zim too far. What if things never got back to where they had been only hours ago?

He was still laying there in the grass when there was a glow from the corner of his eye, then the fairy Lily was alighting next to him and giving him a concerned look. “What happened? We felt a horrible emotional disturbance.”

“Oh, uh...” Dib pushed himself into a sitting position and wiped his eyes off. “Zim and I got into an argument. It's fine.”

“Oh no. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, no I think I just... need to go home and think about things. I said some awful stuff to him.”

“Was any of it true?”

“Well... it's really mean to say so, but... yeah, I meant what I said but I shouldn't have been so harsh to him about his flaws...”

“I'm sure it came from a place of care, though. It's because you care about him that you want him to better himself. I felt a lot of internal turmoil in your friend's heart. He's in a confusing place and doesn't know what he wants for himself. Perhaps what you had to tell him helped him reach a decision.”

“Yeah. A decision to continue his mission to conquer Earth even though it won't bring him the recognition he wants. Even if he does it, his people will just cast him aside the moment he messes up again. I don't want that kind of life for him.”

“I know. But it is his life. You can't live it for him. His choices have to be his own.” She went down to his hand and pulled on it, lifting it with surprising force, and he climbed to his feet. She floated up next to him, picking some grass from his shoulder. “Don't stop loving him. Deep down, he has love for you. All you can do is wait for him to realize it.”

“I don't think he will, though. Or if he does, he'll just crush it down and refuse to acknowledge it. It's the way he was raised. He's not supposed to feel that way for anyone. He won't let himself be in love.”

“It truly is a difficult situation. But I trust he'll make the right decisions in the end. We're very good at reading people, Dib. We can feel what's in their hearts. Sometimes we can even glimpse at their destinies, although the future isn't written in stone. But something tells me that if you stick by his side, if you're there for him when he needs it the most... he'll come around. And all this pain will have been worth it.”

Dib took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Okay. I'll have hope, then.”

“Good.” She smiled. “Now why don't I accompany you back to your tent? It's a long way to go alone.”

“Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother.”

“It's no bother at all, you're rather handsome company.” With a hand on his arm, she followed along as he began walking.

“Oh. Thank you.”

“You would make such a handsome fairy,” she sighed.

“Yeah, I got that a lot from the others.”

“If things do work out for you and your alien paramour, would you two be interested in attending one of our orgies?”

The innocence in which she delivered the line made Dib fail to realize what she was asking for a good few seconds, after which he blushed hard and stumbled over his words as he replied, “W-what? You guys- _what_?!”

“It's just some fun we like to have together on warm, breezy evenings,” she said conversationally, giving his arm a small squeeze. “I think it would be quite exciting having two large guys like you involved!”

Dib's mind flew through the sorts of kinky things he could do with three-inch tall people, while also worrying over all the ways in which he could just end up hurting them, in the span of only a few seconds. Then he said, “W-well I'm very flattered but uh, I'm not sure how Zim would feel about that or even if he'd want to... want to even have sex with me any time soon, so... I don't wanna promise anything. But... maybe? Big maybe, haha...” He broke into nervous laughter, clutching his head at how much of a mood whiplash that was from their earlier sincere conversation.

“No pressure! Just let us know!”

“Yeah. I will.” Fairly flustered now, Dib didn't say much else as he let the sweet fairy accompany him back to his campsite, where she hung around the entire time he was packing up and bade him goodbye as he began the arduous journey back to his car, now having to carry everything he had alone. This was going to be a long walk, made even more difficult by the weight in his heart, but at least he had a lot to think about.


End file.
